[Ads-l] Is "Jazzum" / "Jassum" the Etymon of "Jazz" ?

Wed Nov 1 16:39:23 UTC 2023

Congrats, Bonnie! I'd say that 1900 comes as close to clinching it as is
humanly possible.

Especially since in speech the "m" might easily be elided or go unheard.

JL

On Wed, Nov 1, 2023 at 11:42 AM Bonnie Taylor-Blake <b.taylorblake at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I don't think that these following early sightings of "jazzum" have come up
> on the list, but they may already be known to some of you "jazz"
> enthusiasts.
>
> This 1878 usage of "jazzum" in this long and rambling "letter" is
> interesting, not only because it seems to get to the meaning of "gism"
> (1842; also "jism") and "jasm" in the sense of spirit or energy, but it
> also mentions lightning, as does that 1860 usage of "jasm." Note too it's
> linked to a "professor," which (coincidentally or not) parallels those
> anecdotes suggesting that various university professors had each coined
> "jazzum" (and similar).
>
> I've also included a 1900 appearance of "jazzum," which slightly follows
> Barry's recent find. Interesting that it's from California and mentions
> "the athletic field."
>
> Finally, last night I found some early examples of "jizzum" and "jissum,"
> which I've shared with a few folks (including Barry). You'll find these
> texts far below. (I'm drawn to the double-z in the 1882 "jizzum.")
>
> Again, it's hard for the inexperienced (me) to keep up with what's known
> about the coining of "jazz," so bear with me if I've simply missed these
> coming up on ADS-L or elsewhere.
>
> -- Bonnie
>
> ----------------------------------
>
> (This excerpt is longer than it may need to be, but I wanted to put
> "jazzum" and "jarzum" in context.)
>
> "Now the atmosphere is composed of the essence or spiritual portion of
> every thing which has ever existed on the earth or in it, every kind of
> metal or mineral is found in an ethereal form. There is oxygen and
> hydrogen, and nitrogen and carbon, and ozone, which last is what gives
> vigor to the flavor of a skunk, and is what people smell in the air
> sometimes after lightning, and call brimstone, and there is jarzum or
> jazzum." What is that? I asked. "Well," replied the Professor, "I'll tell
> you. You know it's very insalubrious to the olfactory nerves to inhale
> noxious effluvia emitted from the carcass of a defunct horse. Well, that
> species of gas I call jazzum, and I guess I am right about right. The same
> kind of perfume may be perceived in rotten oysters or fish, or many other
> things which don't smell exactly like cinnamon. Then in the atmosphere we
> find everything of a spiritual and spirituous nature." [In "A Thanksgiving
> at Dungeness and Sequim," Puget Sound Weekly Argus (Port Townsend,
> Washington Territory), 19 December 1878, p. 4. Via geneaologybank.com.)
>
> -----------------
>
> It is part of this spirit which so often brings the American to the front,
> either on the athletic field or in the field of trade competition. It is
> the "jazzum," the get-there spirit. [In "American Adaptability," Press and
> Horticulturist (Riverside, CA), 31 August 1900, p. 4. Via
> geneaologybank.com
> .]
>
> -----------------
>
> Mr. Tilden's agility in playing leap frog over Thomas Jefferson's and
> Andrew Jackson's backs, shows the old democrats that there is a good deal
> of real "jizzum" in him yet. [In "Notes of the Day," Daily Memphis
> Avalanche, 14 April 1882.]
>
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/image/587438555/?terms=jizzum&match=1&clipping_id=134409318
>
> -------------
>
> One idea is apt to give the "swell-head," water on the brain, warts on the
> toes, crink in the back, and jissum in the marrow, and winkle in heart and
> toe, and by that time E.J. Waring's mythical "gentleman" is so nearly
> paralyzed that he cannot grasp the GRIT, but wants to "shoo fly" at poor
> Chase, after all a man and brother journalist, who is used and abuse. [In
> "South Washington Correspondence," Washington (D.C.) Grit, 30 August 1884,
> p. 2. Via genealogybank.com.]
>
>
> On Fri, Oct 27, 2023 at 12:42 PM Baker, John <
> 000014a9c79c3f97-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> I believe that "jasm," "jazm," "jassum," and "jazzum" are clearly just
> > different spellings of the same word.  I also believe that the word
> clearly
> > was not devised by a university leader, although claims to that effect
> > likely were sincere.  Consider these historical examples.
> >
> > 1860:  "'If you'll take thunder and lightening, and a steamboat and a
> > buzz-saw, and mix 'em up, and put 'em into a woman, that's jasm.'"
> > (Currently in HDAS and OED.)
> >
> >
> > The Chronicle (Univ. of Michigan), vol. 15, at 201 (May 24, 1884) (Google
> > Books):
> >
> > "Jasm:
> > 'Tis a spasm
> > Of the moving protoplasm
> > In a keg of shingle-nails.
> > 'Tis
> > A whizz
> > Of the circulating fizz
> > Of the toothsome saw.
> > 'Tis the stirring
> > And the whirring
> > And the energizing slurring
> > Of the protoplasmic nails
> > By the toothsome saw;
> > Of the haemaglobic cones
> > And the premature dry bones
> > By the true symbolic saw,
> > Of humanity.     --Brunonia"       {The "Brunonia" signature may mean
> that
> > the poem is written by an alumnus of Brown University.)
> >
> >
> > 1900:  "Mr. Andrews, ex-president of Brown University, once in Boston,
> > said that to express the get-there spirit of certain Americans had had
> been
> > forced to coin a new word.  That the word was suggested to him by the
> sound
> > of a large circular saw when it meets a knot as it bites its way through
> > the huge log.  The word is euphonic, and is, in fact, "Jazzum.""  (This
> is
> > Barry's find, reproduced more fully below by Fred.)
> >
> >
> > Leon Mead, Word-Coinage:  Being an Inquiry into Recent Neologisms Also a
> > Brief Study of Literary Style, Slang, and Provincialisms 87 (1902)
> (Google
> > Books):  "Rev. Augustus H. Strong . . . suggested that if I should write
> to
> > E. Benjamin Andrews, Chancellor of the University of Nebraska, for his
> > definition of the word _jasm_, I might secure a treasure.  I did so, and
> > Dr. Andrews sent me the following definition:  "Pass a circular saw
> > revolving five hundred times a second through a keg of tenpenny nails.
> > That is _jasm_.""
> >
> >
> > Pacific Rural Press, vol. 90, at 219 (Sept. 4, 1915) (Google Books):
> >
> > ""Jasm":  A Needful Thing.
> > It is fortunate that we have a new word, used for the first time in our
> > hearing at a university meeting in which ex-President Taft participated.
> > The President of the University of Minnesota, Dr. Vincent, was also
> present
> > and he is credited with the coinage of the new word, although he did not
> > use it on that occasion.  The definition of "jasm" is given by a figure
> of
> > speech but not in words, viz.:  "Jasm is what happens when a buzz saw
> > running 1500 revolutions per second strikes a keg of tenpenny nails."  It
> > is obviously applicable to a foot-ball strimmage or other great issue in
> > action, and it is held by some philologists to be a sublimated form of
> > "pep" or "ginger.""
> >
> >
> > Barry's cites, below, include a number of additional examples referring
> to
> > these words as being saw-like.
> >
> >
> > John Baker
> >
> >
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of
> > David Daniel
> > Sent: Friday, October 27, 2023 5:57 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: RES: Is "Jazzum" / "Jassum" the Etymon of "Jazz" ?
> >
> > External Email - Think Before You Click
> >
> >
> > Sounds more like a relative of "jism" to me, as in spunk.
> > DAD
> >
> > -----Mensagem original-----
> > De: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] Em nome de
> > Shapiro, Fred
> > Enviada em: quinta-feira, 26 de outubro de 2023 23:28
> > Para: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Assunto: Is "Jazzum" / "Jassum" the Etymon of "Jazz" ?
> >
> > Subject: Is "Jazzum" / "Jassum" the Etymon of "Jazz" ?
> >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---
> >
> > Is it possible that Barry Popik has discovered, in "jazzum," the etymon
> of
> > =
> > "jazz''? Barry has emailed a number of people presenting a cryptic 1900
> ci=
> > tation for "jazzum." I want to present some intriguing evidence that
> seemi=
> > ngly links "jazzum" to "jazz" not only in form but also semantically. I
> ob=
> > tain this evidence by searching for the variant "jassum" in
> > Newspapers.com.=
> > There are citations for "jassum" that have the connotation of "energy"
> an=
> > d, explicitly, "pep" that are also present in many early citations for
> > "jaz=
> > z."
> >
> > [1902 Town Talk (Alexandria, La.) 10 Dec. 2 Beneath a beautiful starlit =
> > night, with zephyrs floating through the transoms, laden with the orange
> > an=
> > d jassum.]
> >
> > 1915 Oakland Enquirer 4 Oct. 7 A "jassum relay" is the newest thing in c=
> > inder path affairs.
> >
> > 1915 University Oklahoman 8 Oct. 4 The words adapted from the favorite g=
> > ridiron song of an eastern university, and the music, calculated to
> > inspire=
> > unmitigated "jassum" in the most sophisticated freshman or the most
> staid =
> > senior, have been sung in eleven hundred different shades of vocalizing
> at
> > =
> > every meeting of students since Assembly Wednesday morning, and at none
> > wer=
> > e they better used as vehicles of "pep" than at meetings called for that
> > pu=
> > rpose.
> >
> > 1915 University Oklahoman 15 Oct. 1 Everyone was jam full of jassum.
> >
> > 1915 University Oklahoman 29 Oct. 1 The advance of fashions and the broa=
> > dening of the mind induced by the growth of Jassum.
> >
> > 1916 Wewoka (Okla.) Democrat 18 May 1 The High School students all came =
> > together, and the "Jassum Kings" reigned again in all their former glory.
> >
> > 1916 Norman (Okla.) Democrat-Topic 28 July 1 All of the members of the
> gr=
> > aduating class are putting forth every effort to make the evening's
> > enterta=
> > inment full of "pep," "jassum" and life.
> >
> > Although I am suggesting that "jassum" is the immediate etymon of "jazz,"
> > J=
> > ohn Baker has pointed out: "I assume that 'jazzum' is just a variant
> > spelli=
> > ng of 'jasm,' already identified as the most likely source for 'jazz.'"
> Th=
> > is may be persuasive as the ultimate etymon. The significance of the
> "jass=
> > um" citations may be the explicit lining up in some of them with the word
> > "=
> > pep," which was clearly a synonym of "jazz." If the 1900 occurrence of
> "ja=
> > zzum" is the same word as in the 1915 and 1916 citations of "jassum" and
> > no=
> > t a pure coincidence, then the prehistory of "jazz" begins by 1900.
> >
> > I should provide Barry's 1900 citation here:
> >
> > 1900 Los Angeles Times 29 June 8 Mr. Andrews, ex-president of Brown
> Unive=
> > rsity, once in Boston, said that to express the get-there spirit of
> > certain=
> > Americans he had been forced to coin a new word. That the word was
> sugges=
> > ted to him by the sound of a large circular saw when it meets a knot as
> it
> > =
> > bites its way through the huge log. The word is euphonic, and is, in
> fact,=
> > "Jazzum." One can almost picture the operation and feel his nerves on
> edg=
> > e as he speaks the word. It is a good word; Roosevelt has the quality
> and =
> > is sure to take lots of jazzum into the Senate with him. There is a
> magnet=
> > ism about him which appeals to every energetic man.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> > Editor
> > New Yale Book of Quotations (Yale University Press)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
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